Retirement deadline concerns teachers; board seeks resolution
Summer school fee to rise
The fee to attend summer school in the Janesville School District has been $7 for many years. It will be $15 this year.
The Janesville School Board voted 8-0 Tuesday to approve the change.
Summer School Director Steve Huth said the new fee would do away with additional materials fees that have come with some courses, such as pottery, cooking and photography, although additional fees for courses such as golf and the summer high school musical would remain.
Summer school is expanding and changing, with the addition of new, more expensive and more academically rigorous curriculum at all the summer school sites, Huth said.
Huth said $15 amounts to 84 cents a day for the 18 days of summer school, but board member Peter Severson said he was concerned about the families for which even $7 was a hardship.
JANESVILLE — Thirty-five to 40 Janesville teachers are anxiously waiting to see what the school board will decide about their retirement benefits.
The teachers, who are eligible for retirement this year, must declare their intention to retire by April 15.
If they don't retire, they risk whatever changes the board might make.
Non-teaching staff members face the same problem, if not the same deadline, with a total of about 90 employees eligible to retire this year, officials said.
The board met with employees Tuesday to discuss possible retirement-benefit changes.
Elementary teacher Nancy Bandsma said she's not ready to retire, but she might.
"I've had a lot of sleepless nights worrying about what's going to come down the pike," Bandsma said.
High school teacher Linda Miller had a similar problem. She's put in 30 years in the district and is close to retirement but not yet eligible.
"What's going to happen to people like me?" she asked.
Board President Bill Sodemann said the board is "very concerned" and that a solution "is being discussed."
Sodemann and Superintendent Karen Schulte said part of the solution would be discussed when the board met behind closed doors later Tuesday night.
"We hope to have those answers for you, definitely before April 15. I think all board members are in agreement on that," Sodemann said.
Board member Deborah Schilling said April 15 would be too late, that employees needed a week or so to consider their options.
At least some board members are interested in changing the current system, which offers up to eight years of health insurance after retirement, depending on the number of years worked and unused sick days accrued.
Workers have used the benefit to retire early, giving them the security of health insurance until they are eligible for Medicare.
With health care costs skyrocketing uncontrollably, the board, like many others around the state, is looking for a way to offer a benefit whose cost they can predict and control.
About 20 employees attending the meeting applauded when board member Kevin Murray said they were in no way agreeing that the existing benefit should be changed.
Murray later said the board should negotiate changes with the unions, but no one else supported that idea.
Murray also got no support when he said all current employees should get the current retirement plan, and only new hires would be affected by any changes.
Meanwhile, it was revealed at Tuesday's board meeting that Sodemann and board member Kristin Hesselbacher have been meeting with district union representatives to work on a plan that would protect employees who are within several years of retirement—no firm number of years has been decided—while changing the benefit in a way that helps the district financially.
Dave Parr, president of the teachers union, said during a break that he was pleased that those discussions were on the right track, "but we don't know (what will happen). That's just board members talking to us."
Parr was not pleased with Tuesday's meeting, because he said the discussion included employees' concerns and ideas but no reaction or discussion from board members, who seemed content to hold their own discussion later.
Board members seemed interested in grandfathering the change, so that workers closest to retirement would get the benefit they had bargained for in previous contracts.
But a tough call will be where to draw the line between the grandfathered and those who would get the new retirement plan.
Sodemann had a detailed plan worked out, apparently the plan he had proposed to the unions, but which he said hadn't been costed out, yet.
Sodemann suggested that if the board could not decide in time, it could allow teachers to sign their contracts with an option to opt out and retire later, something the board has already approved for administrators.
The board was allowed to meet out of the public eye Tuesday because of an exemption to the open-meetings law that allows for closed meetings when negotiations with unions are discussed.
Mar 14, 2013 at 5:17 p.m.
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janesvillian...I was addressing health insurance premiums only, not pensions. Maybe you need to pay attention to what bloggers actually post.
Mar 14, 2013 at 3:38 p.m.
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janesvilliean,
Retirement is paid for by the tax payer. If someone retires at 58 with 25 years of experience. The net benefit that teacher will receive is far greater-bya factor of 10X than he or she contributed. 5.9% is the individual contribution-the individual contribution will increase next year to 6.65%. For easy math lets assume a teacher earns $1 million over 25 year career. This person would have contributed approximately 67K of his own deferred income with the employer contributing the same. So after 25 years this retiree has approx 140K + or minus 15% in a retirement fund. The individual pension would be exhausted after 4 years of being retired. IN the case at age 62. This person earns approx 40K in annual retirement benefits per year-if they live until 80-that is another 800K in retirement payments paid for by the tax payer-not the retiree. The income was not earned nor deferred. It is transferred from the tax payers to the employee. This is not a sustainable model. Just look at illinois.
Only an idiot would not take the ability to invest 70 K and turn this into 800K + over 25 years. This is an annual return 13% of 4200 invested per year for 25 years - warren buffet would give his left arm for these types of returns.
Mar 14, 2013 at 1:52 p.m.
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US Education Lagging Behind Other Nations Concerns Citizens; Teacher Unions Seek a Resolution
Mar 14, 2013 at 1:33 p.m.
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donnaw, retirement is NOT "on the taxpayers dime". This is a form of deferred compensation. In other words, it is taken out of their current salary already. You've fallen for propaganda again, I'm afraid. Maybe you needed to pay more attention in school.
Mar 14, 2013 at 1:10 p.m.
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Why do we pay a gym teacher the same as a math or language arts teacher?
Mar 14, 2013 at 1:09 p.m.
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Hunger concerns the homeless; the community seeks a resolution.
Mar 14, 2013 at 1 p.m.
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vnvet,
Should a new teacher-fresh out of college with only student teaching experience earn the same as the superintendent? In this case 115K isn? Is this a decent wage for someone with zero experience? And then let that person pick up their 15K in health insurance premiums?
Or perhaps a new teacher and one with 30 years experience should earn the same as that administrator? What about paying more for science, business, or high school vs elementary school-
You should open a school and offer this starting wage to attract the best teachers within the district and see what happens. Dont forget the pension costs...which are considerably more for administrators and those with 20-30 years experience...your staffing costs are around 160K per employee-(and this is the low end of the estimate)...you going to need a building ($1M), and liability insurance-perhaps you should make your school wholly private-something along the lines of Sidewell Friends-and a 30K tuition to pay these people a "decent wage".
Mar 14, 2013 at 12:11 p.m.
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Union terrorist groups. LOL too funny!! More please?
Mar 14, 2013 at 11:30 a.m.
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Here's an idea, pay the teachers a decent wage( like that of an administrator) and let them pay for their own healthcare 100% .
Mar 14, 2013 at 6:10 a.m.
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bleeding heart....agreed. Who in the real world expects to retire early and get health care coverage until they are eligible for Medicare on the taxpayers dime. If you chose to retire early take your chances....get your own health care coverage like the rest of the world. With the rising costs of health care the taxpayers can no longer afford to pay for this. Work until you are eligible for Medicare or take your chances.
Mar 13, 2013 at 9:11 p.m.
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Very nice, pointless,hypocritical post.
Mar 13, 2013 at 8:38 p.m.
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That's right, it will be a tough call on who gets grandfathered and who doesn't. That's called "part of life". A lot of people complain about how crappy the board is, but I didn't see 60,000 names on the ballot for school board a few weeks ago. If you don't like the way the board is managing the district - get the nominations and try to get elected. No matter what, there will be winners in this game and there will be losers. You don't have to like it, you don't have to agree with it. You can scream out how unfair it is all you want. I have seen how much of a hot topic it is that the teachers are going to lose out, and have watched over the past year or so how bad Act 10 has been, and all the crocodile tear sized crying on how Mrs/Mr Teacher are really going to get screwed over. Blah, blah, blah. It's amazing that if a few teachers are going to get screwed over (allegedly) how many minions will jump up and say how unfair it is. But as a taxpayer who has been getting screwed over, and over, and over, and over, and over, by the Union terrorist groups - I have yet to get any sympathy. Plus, I don't recall the outcry for the other lightning rod topics that past boards have had to contend with. So long as I have to pay for someones medical benefits when they retire, I guess the other topics which cost money aren't a big deal.
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